Katherine Harris’s husband dead in likely suicide, police say

The husband of former Florida Secretary of State and Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) was found dead Tuesday morning at the couple’s home in Sarasota, Fla. Police have described the death as a likely suicide.

Anders Ebbeson, a 68-year-old businessman born in Halmstead, Sweden, married Harris in 1996 after the two met on a blind date at an opera. It was a second marriage for both. Ebbeson had one daughter from his first marriage.

{mosads}As reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Pastor William Hild requested privacy on behalf of Ebbeson’s family, and suggested unspecified health issues may have caused him to take his own life.

“Anders has been suffering health conditions that he’d been attempting to deal with, which had been increasingly part of his life,” Hild said.

Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino added that Harris wanted others to know her husband was “no longer suffering.”

After spending four years as Florida secretary of State, where she was at the center of the 2000 Florida presidential recount, Harris served for four years in the House of Representatives from Florida’s 13th District.

In 2006, she challenged Sen. Bill Nelson (D) but lost by a wide margin after a campaign plagued by staff resignations and other controversies. She retired from politics following the defeat.